Bangkok Airways to boost Europe traffic

Airline looks for more codeshares and cooperation
Bangkok Airways wants to widen its codeshare partnerships, a strategy that is expected to bring an additional 1.2 million seats through the three key gateways of Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
Jirapon Hirunrat, the airline’s vice president for network management, told TTG Asia the plan was “to cover the most of the EU zone and utilise (partner carriers’) marketing tools”. Another key strategy is “to focus on interline traffic through all international gateways to Thailand”.
In the pipeline are codeshare partnerships with one European and seven Asian airlines.
The smallest but best-performing carrier among Thailand’s publicly traded airlines, Bangkok Airways has been swiftly expanding its portfolio of codeshare partners in its bid to grow European outbound and long-haul traffic to its Bangkok hub.
“Airline partnerships, either codesharing or other cooperative arrangements, have become powerful tools for expanding networks, enhancing revenue and reducing costs,” Jirapon said.
The use of codeshares has yielded a growth of 13-17% annually for Bangkok Airways for the past three years, he added. Among its deals with 20 airlines, British Airways is showing “significant traffic growth” while Emirates generates “significant revenue proportion”.
The independent full-service regional carrier is planning further expansion as it receives three ATR72-600s and three to four Airbus A319s, bringing its fleet to 36 aircraft this year. It will introduce three new routes, namely Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son, Bangkok-Danang (Vietnam) and Samui-Guangzhou (China) in 2016 as well as boost frequencies on popular routes.TTG Asia